[Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Lew Rockwell Fan:
5 data points and a question

First, additioanal data points:

I've had 2 different devices with micro usb connectors and both failed within 3 days of beginning to use them. I can't swear it was the female socket that was damaged but that was my impression. The prongs on the male connector were NOT flattened. I looked for that.

I had another device, a Nook Color I believe it was called, that had a usb charging/data connector that was their own slightly modified design of one of the usb standards. I can't swear whether it was a modified mini or a modified micro but I think it was a modified micro. Anyway the socket was a little deeper than the standard. The idea was that if you plugged in a standard male connector it worked the same way as a standard socket but if you plugged in the longer Nook male connector it went in deeper (I'm straining to refrain from low humor here), additional contacts came into play and it would charge faster. In the Nook case it was definitely the male connector that would break. I replaced the charger twice before the Nook failed for other reasons (I suspect a cat baptised it). If you search the net you'll find a lot of people had the same problem.

So in my case micro-usb is either 2 for 0 if you don't count the Nook, 3 for 0 if you count the Nook once, or maybe 5 for 1 if you count the Nook replacement chargers and charitably assume the last one would have worked for a while if the cat hadn't scented it.

I've NEVER had a problem with large, plain, standard, type A rectangular connectors. I think the idea that the mini is too big is one only Madison Avenue types could come up with. Even the standard type A isn't really too big. After all, how big is a thumb drive? I suspect it has more to do with making it a wee bit cheaper than making it smaller.

So yeah, micro-usb just plain sucks. Assuming Frank's posts in this thread at stack exchange:

electronics.stackexchange dotcom /questions/18552/why-was-mini-usb-deprecated-in-favor-of-micro-usb

aren't fraudulent, Nokia pressured the USB Implementers Forum to accept the micro standard, implicitly against the better judgement of some people involved. I'm therefore inclined to never buy a Nokia anything.

So much for the problem. I'm thinking about workarounds because there is a tablet I'd really like to use that charges through a female micro usb port. If I can't charge the battery it's useless. So I'd appreciate comments regarding the feasbility of these alternatives:

WORKAROUND # 1:

Carefully insert a male-micro-usb-X-female-standard-type-A adaptor into the device and glue them both to a piece of waterproofed luon (very light plywood) and then connect with a cable that has male standard full size rectangular type A connectors at BOTH ends. I've never had any problem with the standard full sized type A and they are easy to replace if I do. Though both adaptors and cables as described, are readily available, it is said that the maleXmale cables can damage equipment in some cases and I'm don't know enough to be sure this is not one of those cases.

WORKAROUND #2:

Alternately I could just glue the micro end of the kind of cable that comes with such devices to the luon and leave the rest of the cable dangling. Downside: Messy dangling cable. Upside: I KNOW it is safe.

Any thoughts on these workarounds would be appreciated.